Second Floor - Winding Canyon Zone, Weathered Spire Quadrant

"Keep your mind open. Feel how the mana flows around you, its eddies and currents. Relax. Breathe. Attune yourself to the energy of the world, but don't force it. Just watch. Listen. Now tell me, where does it gather?"

Jade sat on a small, flat rock in the dusty canyon, eyes closed in concentration. She felt Luis and Naomi stir beside her, all of them focusing on Aylin's words. They had been at this for several days during breaks in their journey, and Jade thought she was finally starting to get a handle on what the half-elf called 'magical senses' or 'soul sight'.

She opened her mind to the currents of magic that swirled around them. It was warm and subtle, beginning with the curling wisps of invisible energy that surrounded her own body. Beyond that…

"It's concentrated around us." Jade said, keeping her eyes closed. "You, me, and all of us."

"It's strongest near us and fades quickly." Naomi added. "But it doesn't completely disappear. There's… a little bit everywhere."

"Good." Aylin said, her serene voice sounding distant to Jade's focused mind. "You are making progress. Mana is an intrinsic part of life. All living creatures possess it, even ones that cannot use any magic of their own. The more powerful a creature, the more mana will surround it. But all beings are a font of cosmic power, as that is what links the soul to the body. If you look closely, you can feel that connection itself."

Jade did as instructed, examining Aylin's aura of power. It was difficult to discern at first, but then something changed. The mage's mana suddenly became transparent and easier to study, and Jade realized that Aylin had been doing something to her power to make it more opaque. Whatever that technique was, it had stopped. Now, her essence was laid bare for them. As the mage had said, there was a bright core of energy that coalesced in the center of her body, pulsing faintly as if it had a heartbeat. Looking closer, Jade felt like she could feel the mage's mind at work. She was focused on them, guiding their senses.

"Is that… You?" Luis asked hesitantly.

"It is." Aylin confirmed. "With proper focus, one may observe the bridge between a creature's soul and their physical form. Everything we are comes from the soul, and it is possible to use this sense to inform you of a creature's intentions. When you act, those impulses are sent from the soul and translated to the body. A careful observer can detect that. This technique has many applications, including combat, where even a moment's forewarning of an opponent's next action can be the difference between victory and defeat."

Jade's head was starting to hurt from the constant focus. They'd been at this for over an hour now, and she finally withdrew back to her body and opened her eyes. The five of them were sitting in the shadow of a sandy canyon wall, sheltered from the midday heat. Siora was nearby, quietly working on sorting through a collection of new herbs she'd collected over their days of travel on the second floor. The elf was already proficient with the basic functions of magical senses and didn't need Aylin's instruction.

"That's enough for now." The robed mage said, also opening her eyes. "You're improving quickly. In a week or so, you should have the basics down."

"Thank you for teaching us." Naomi said, getting up and stretching. "It's pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it, but I never would have thought to open my mind like this. It feels…"

"Like exposing yourself?" Jade asked. She had been feeling much the same.

"Yeah." Naomi said, and Luis nodded in agreement. "Like I'm opening my heart for everyone to look in."

"Right now, you are." Aylin said, standing and brushing off her robes. "But once you get the hang of the basics, we can work on how to maintain your defenses while keeping your senses open. You'll get there. This is a path all wielders of magic walk, and it is well worn."

"You'd think the Labyrinth would've given some more instructions on this." Luis commented. "Seems like an oversight."

Aylin laughed. "That is a common complaint, Luis. The Voice of the Labyrinth is quick to give might and power, and there is no faster way to achieve strength in the cosmos than to become a wayfarer. But for newcomers to a world of magic, its gifts can be a crutch that prevents them from learning the fundamentals of how to control their mana and aura. Becoming truly adept with the powers you are learning will require more than levels and absorbed experience, but hard work and training as well."

That was fine by Jade. She had long since learned that no amount of natural talent or head start could overcome dedication and effort. Her athletic career had required all that and more. Becoming a skilled warrior would be no different, regardless of what powers this world heaped upon them.

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They spent the rest of their day continuing towards the Twilight Forest Zone, where the town of Lysara was situated. Upon emerging onto the second level of the Labyrinth Siora had immediately recognized the general area and, with a little help from Aylin, had begun leading the party back to her home. After several days of travel, interspersed with grinding on the various monsters that inhabited the quadrants they passed through, they were finally nearing their destination. In the distance Jade could see the tall, green treetops of an approaching forest.

The woodland appeared oddly dim compared to the bright, sunlit day of the desert canyon they were currently traversing, but Siora had explained that her home generally experienced short days and long nights.

How does that even work? Is one zone experiencing nighttime when the one right next to it is day? Jade thought, glancing up at the brilliant sun. She wasn't sure how that could work, but one way or another she'd find out soon.

As they travelled, Jade took the opportunity to pull up her notification history. The past few days, and the ascension from floor one to two of the Labyrinth especially, had come with some welcome rewards. Jade looked through her old notifications again, refreshing her memory. First, she looked through the two titles she had received.

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* Title: Limit Breaker

* Awarded for successfully casting a spell or talent two full ranks higher than its base level.

* Not bad, but there's a reason spell power is normally limited by your level. You may want to look into that before trying this again.

* Reward: One upgrade point.

It had taken Jade a moment to recall what she had done to receive that. It had been when she had first met Luis and Naomi in the goblin camp. Her succubus form and 'Bondage Queen' ability had compounded, boosting her 'Allure' spell two full ranks all the way from 'D' to 'B'. Apparently, that was something of a feat. She had asked Aylin what the system's rather ominous warning about trying that again meant, but the mage told her not to worry about it.

Jade was still 'D' rank, which meant the quality of mana she was able to channel through her soul was limited. As she levelled up over time her body would adjust, becoming capable of using more refined forms of mana. That would start happening when she reached level 20, which Aylin said was the start of 'C' rank, and as she gradually increased her individual spells and talents to 'C' rank through training and use. For now, every time Jade used her abilities to artificially increase the rank of her magic, her body would be taxed beyond its usual limits. Aylin assured her that was fine, even good for her development, as long as she didn't do it all the time.

Her next title was something that she, Luis, and Naomi had all received at once.

* Title: Front Runner

* Awarded for being one of the first five wayfarer parties from Earth to ascend to the second level of the Labyrinth.

* You know the wayfarer trial isn't a race, right? That said… If you treat it like one, you may get more rewards like this. That generally isn't told to new wayfarers to make sure they have time to get strong enough to survive doing the reckless things they usually do after finding this out. Now you know!

* Reward: One upgrade point.

It was becoming clear that the Labyrinth rewarded risky behavior with boons and power, at least for wayfarers. Jade didn't mind, as she held the mindset that the only way to get ahead in life was to take chances other people weren't willing to. Apparently, titles were harder to come by for people like Aylin who only had apprentice marks, although still possible. They were also quite valuable, as 'upgrade points' allowed you to increase the power of an 'ability' you possessed, or instantly rank up one of your 'spells' or 'talents' to the next level. After some discussion with her friends, Jade had elected to spend her two upgrade points on her 'Shapeshifter' ability and her 'Kiss of Night' racial spell, respectively.

Upgrading 'shapeshifter' had come with two separate benefits, both quite welcome. First, and what Jade had been hoping for, was that the enhanced ability now shrouded her aura in a way that made it more difficult to detect she was magically altering her appearance. Ideally that would prevent a repeat of what had happened with Aylin when she'd discovered Jade's subterfuge. The secondary benefit was that she now gained some, but not all, of the racial features of creatures she transformed into. Jade was still exploring what those were, but the initial tests were promising.

The second upgrade point had been a harder decision. Eventually, Jade had decided to use it on 'Kiss of Night' simply because that spell would be very difficult to grind to 'C' rank through normal use. As it didn’t work on normal monsters, she didn't have many opportunities to cast it. Now that it was level 'C' Jade wouldn't be able to progress it any further until she hit level 20, but that wasn't a problem. She already had plenty of other spells and talents to work on.

'Kiss of Night's' C rank effect turned out to be quite useful. In addition to dealing increased damage and providing extra healing, it also gave Jade a small chance to absorb a stat point from her target's highest ability score when she drained them. She was limited to twenty points gained in this way, but that would still be equivalent to ten whole levels worth of additional stats once she was maxed out.

The rest of her notifications had been more mundane. A couple of completed quests had awarded more experience and crescent coins. Two of them, the monster hunting quest and the quest to reach floor 2, had been replaced with another follow up. All three of the wayfarers had received enough experience from their various quests to push them over the threshold for their next level. This brought Jade up to level 9 and, after several days of grinding monsters during their travels, she was already closing in on 10. She swapped over to her stats page, examining her updated scores.

* Base Stat Scores (Human form)

* Strength: 7

* Agility: 16

* Fortitude: 10

* Intelligence: 13

* Willpower: 9

Between the bonus provided by the astral fruit and her most recent level up, Jade was beginning to feel superhuman in some of her abilities. The change was most noticeable in her reflexes. As an athlete, she was intimately familiar with the limits of the human body. Apparently, a '16' in agility threw all that out the window. Never before had she felt so light on her feet, and she had a sneaking suspicion that there was more than one world record that she would be able to beat with ease at this point. The changes for all of them, Luis and Naomi alike, astounded Jade, and she couldn't help but wonder just how much their bodies would be enhanced as they continued to level.

Aylin stopped suddenly, a frown crossing her face. It was so abrupt that Jade nearly walked into her, having been preoccupied with her menus. She closed them, looking around.

"What's wrong?"

They were almost at the edge of the forest now, its darkened border looking more cozy than ominous. Nothing like the part of Juniper's jungle that had been the home of the giant spider boss. Beside her, the rest of her companions slowed to a stop as well.

"Open your senses. Can you feel that?" The mage said, closely examining the tree line.

Jade opened her mind to the flow of mana that surrounded them, letting it wash over her. Effectively interpreting any of the information it carried was still beyond her, and Jade was still having trouble filtering out the mana of her own aura from her perception. She could feel her companions' presence beside her and the vibrant essence of the nearby trees, but not much else.

"Nothing." She shook her head, glancing at her companions. They each replied with a shrug.

"Wait…"

At the very edge of what she could detect, something shifted. A darkness amidst the faint radiance of the forest's life energy. It felt cold and unnerving, wrong in a way Jade couldn't describe. She took an involuntary step away, reflexively reaching for her weapons.

"What is that…?"

Everyone tensed. They could all feel the ominous presence now. It was growing steadily closer, just out of sight in the trees.

"If I had to guess: Undead." Aylin said grimly, drawing her wand.

"There've never been any undead near here." Siora was alarmed. "Maybe it's…-?"

The elf was cut off by a distant scream. It cut through the tranquil evening like a gunshot, bringing Jade to full alert. Her soul sight wasn't refined enough to detect any details at a distance yet, but she didn't need them. Someone was in danger. Jade began running towards the edge of the forest, the rest of her party hot on her heels.

"Be careful! There's more than one!" Aylin called out from behind her. The mage was casting some sort of spell on herself, her wand weaving in a complex pattern.

Jade dashed into the forest, daggers at the ready and alert for any sign of danger. It didn't take long to find the source of the commotion. Ahead of her, amidst a loose group of thin trees, an elven woman lay wounded on the ground, a pool of blood growing around her. A man stood defensively over her, a small axe held shakily in one hand as he squared off against a group of humanoid, skeletal figures closing in on them. The monsters moved in jerky, unnatural lurches that made Jade's blood run cold, but she didn't hesitate. Before she could form second thoughts, the succubus charged into the fray.